Memories
by fanwriter1245
Summary: Eliana, Bruce's old best friend, can't understand what happened to their friendship. In a chance encounter a few years after his return to Gotham, Eliana is confronted with the past. A past that holds a lot of happiness, but also a lot of pain. When an old enemy returns, Eliana's whole world will be turned upside down forever. BrucexOC
1. Eliana

Eliana used to have two best friends. Now she had none. One was dead, and the other? Well…he had changed. A lot.

Rachel Dawes, Bruce Wayne, and Eliana Forbes were best friends growing up. One was hardly ever seen without another.

But everything changed once they were in college. Eliana and Rachel gradually lost contact because of their busy schedules, and Bruce disappeared for seven years. When he came back, he wasn't the same and Eliana didn't know why. All that mattered was that he didn't seem to care about her anymore.

Gotham had been through a lot in the last couple of years. First, fear toxin ran rampant thanks to Dr. Jonathon Crane and…what did the media call it? The League of Shadows? Whatever that meant.

Eliana hadn't been affected by any of the gas, as she had been working in the restaurant that night which was out of the gas's path. She was thankful for that because from what she saw on the news, the gas made everyone see their biggest fears and that was an experience she could live without. She knew her biggest fears well enough without them coming to life right in front of her.

And then the Joker came into everyone's lives to terrorize the city and caused the death of Rachel. That tore Eliana apart. Sure, they hadn't been as close as they had been growing up in school, but she was still her friend. The last best friend she had.

Now she had several friends where she worked, but she wasn't as close with them as she had been with Rachel and Bruce. She would never be as close with anyone as she was with them.

And then of course, there was the Batman. Eliana had never seen the hero with her own eyes. She'd only seen him on the TV or in the newspaper, and she'd heard stories from people she worked with. Not once had she seen him in person.

The media blamed him for the death of Harvey Dent, Rachel's boyfriend/fiancé. She just couldn't find it in her to believe that. If he stopped Falcone the fear gas and this so-called League of Shadows AND the Joker, it was clear he only had Gotham's best interests in mind. So why would he kill Harvey when all he was doing was helping the city? The whole thing just didn't add up.

Eliana worked as a mechanic during the day from 11:00-4:00 and as a waitress for a fancy restaurant at night from 7:00-1:00, but on Mondays, she worked at the auto shop until 11:00, seeing as the restaurant was closed. People often teased her about working at such contrasting occupations.

The auto shop wasn't exactly in the best place in Gotham. In fact, it was in the Narrows, so it was basically in the worst place. That meant that Eliana had a lot of confrontations with some of the seedier citizens of Gotham. Luckily for her, her parents had insisted back in high school that she take self-defense classes, so she was prepared for all of them who had come into the shop so far. She had picked up many injuries along the way, but with each person who came after her, she became a better fighter. So by this point, she was practically an expert.

Her restaurant job wasn't much better. No one came after her while she was working, aside from the occasional drunk guys, but she had her co-workers to deal with them. It was on her way home when they made their move. But she was always able to defend herself and they never knew what hit them.

"Eliana!" her friend, Jess, called. "Table 5 needs drinks! Can you get those? I've got my hands full!"

"Sure thing, Jess!"

Eliana skillfully grabbed the tray of water and various wines and delivered them over to Table 5. "Here you are!" she said with a bright smile. "Sorry for the wait!"

She went back to the kitchen to grab some more orders. "Thanks, El!" Jess called, grabbing a couple trays of food. "You're a lifesaver!"

Eliana's heart panged for a second at the mention of her old nickname. Rachel and Bruce were the first ones who ever called her El. Some people called her El now, but it only meant something when either Rachel or Bruce called her that.

She quickly got over it when more trays needed to be delivered to more tables. Work was not the time for daydreaming.

When it was time for her to clock out, she said goodbye to her co-workers and began to walk home. It was drizzling so she pulled up her sweatshirt hood. She wanted to listen to some music, but she knew that it wasn't safe to do so. Constantly alert, it didn't take long for her to hear footsteps behind her that stopped when she did. She sighed heavily. Was it too much to ask for a peaceful walk home? In Gotham City, yes.

Before the stalker knew what was happening, she punched him in the face, kicked him in the gut, and used her feet to knock his own out from under him. The back of his head hit the ground, and he lay motionless on the sidewalk.

Panting heavily, Eliana pulled out her cell phone and called up the oh-so-familiar number.

"Hey, Gordon," she said.

"Again, Eliana?" the kind voice said on the other end.

"Yep, got another one."

"Alright, you know the drill. Stay there and we'll be there to take your statement."

"Got it."

She hung up and kept her eye on the attacker. He barely moved a muscle until Gordon arrived on the scene. She had a feeling that even if he did awake, he wouldn't put up much of a fight to get away.

"Are you alright?" Gordon asked as he came up to her.

"Same as usual," she said. "This was actually one of the easiest fights I've ever been in."

Gordon let out a small laugh. Gotham needed more people like Eliana.

Eliana hung around for a little and Gordon took her side of what happened while other cops got her attacker conscious again and then handcuffed him and loaded him up in the police car.

When the familiar routine was over, Gordon gave her a ride back to her apartment like he usually did.

If she had a dollar for every time she gave a statement to Gordon, she'd be as rich as Bruce Wayne himself.

"Thanks, Gordon," Eliana smiled as she got out of the car.

"Stay safe, Eliana!"

"You know it!"

Eliana trudged up to her apartment and set down her bag on the counter. After grabbing some leftovers from the fridge, she sat down in front of the TV and turned on the news. Batman still filled the channels, the manhunt for him ongoing. Eliana rolled her eyes at the newscasters' remarks. Why couldn't people see that Batman was innocent? It wasn't like anyone had any hard evidence that Batman had actually committed the crime. As far as she knew, there hadn't been any witnesses at the time of Harvey's death.

After finishing her food, she changed into pajamas and crashed in bed, uneager to start the day ahead of her.


	2. Bruce's Return

The next day, Eliana awoke to the piercing shrill sound of her alarm going off. Sighing, she ceased the horrid noise and forced herself out of bed.

She grabbed a nutrition bar to eat on the way and a lunch for herself that would have to get her through the long Monday ahead until she got off work.

Her whole day was rather uneventful, and she was eager to get home and get to sleep. The top half of her coverall hung loosely around her waist, revealing her gray, smudged tank top beneath it. She usually did that when she wasn't working on a car since it allowed her more freedom to move her arms.

"Hey, babe," someone said.

She turned to find a man walking into the garage. He looked dirty and had a sick smile on his face that could only mean one thing.

"May I help you?" Eliana asked tersely.

"Oh, I can name several ways you can help me and my friends."

"Friends?"

Four other men joined the first. Eliana got a little more nervous seeing as she had never fought more than two men before, much less five, but she tried not to show it.

"Look, guys, I've had a long day and I really just want to go home and get some sleep."

"Aw, come on, don't be that way."

The first man put his hand on her shoulder so she kicked him in the crotch and from then on, he wasn't a problem any longer. The others were stunned at first, but quickly sprang into action when they realized that this girl wasn't going to be an easy catch. Eliana grabbed a wrench off the wall and whacked one of them in the face as hard as she could. Before she could do that again, another knocked it out of her hand, so she proceeded to punch him in the face.

Yet another came after her while she was fighting, but before he could reach her, she heard him crying out in pain behind her. She finished fighting the one attacking her and turned around to find a sight she never expected to see.

The Batman was fighting with her.

The last man tried to run away, but Batman stopped him before he could and knocked him unconscious with the others.

Eliana stood panting as the vigilante faced her. "You're a little late," she said to him.

"What?" he rasped.

"You think this is the first time I've been attacked here? I've lost count of how many creeps have come in here looking for a bit of 'fun'."

"There weren't five of them those times."

"How do you know?"

"From what I saw, you can handle one or two. But you can't handle five."

Eliana quieted, knowing he was right. "What are you doing here anyway? Aren't the cops looking for you?"

"Yes. But this city needs me."

"I should call Gordon. If I'm not mistaken, he's still on your side."

"It's complicated."

"I'm sure it is." She took out her cell phone and called her friend. Batman turned to leave. "Hey," she called. He turned back around to face her. "Thanks."

He gave her a nod before taking off into the darkness.

"Don't tell me," the voice on the phone said.

"Well, actually…this one's a little different…"

* * *

Eliana walked into the auto shop exhausted. She had been up way later than usual giving her statement, slyly managing to leave out Batman with the others cops, then later privately explaining what really happened to Gordon. She knew very well that he believed Batman was innocent too even though he had kept it a secret from the public.

She hadn't gotten home until two and she still had to eat and shower. The price of her lack of sleep was really kicking in now.

She let the top half of her coveralls hang around her waist again and opened up the shop. It wasn't too long before she heard a car pull around. She finished what she was doing and looked up. The face that she saw made her stomach drop to her feet.

"Bruce," she said quietly.

"Eliana?"

Eliana had only spoken with him once since he had gotten back to Gotham. And it hadn't gone well.

* * *

 _"_ _Eliana!" Jess called quietly, quickly motioning her over. Eliana went over to her friend, and Jess pointed out someone in a booth. "Look! Bruce Wayne is in our restaurant!"_

 _Eliana's head snapped over in the direction she was pointing. She laughed at the sight of her best friend whom she hadn't seen in seven years._

 _"_ _I can't believe he's back! Mind if I take this one?" Eliana asked excitedly._

 _"_ _He's all yours!"_

 _Eliana smiled broadly, grabbed a tray, and walked over to Bruce's table. "Hi, my name is Eliana, and I'll be your server tonight," she smiled. A couple models sitting at the table with Bruce looked her up and down, not-so-discreetly judging her. "Hi, Bruce," she added when her name didn't seem to register with him._

 _Bruce looked up at her. "Eliana Forbes. I didn't know you worked here."_

 _"_ _A few years now. It's so good to see you again! I really missed you!"_

 _"_ _It's been a while, yeah."_

 _"_ _Where were you?"_

 _"_ _Could we cut the small talk? I think we're all rather hungry."_

 _Eliana's smile faded a little. "Oh, yeah, um, can I offer you some wine?" She took their orders and went back to the kitchen._

 _"_ _How'd it go?" Jess asked._

 _"_ _I…I'm not sure."_

 _Eliana grabbed the wine and some water and went to deliver it back to the table. The models were rubbing their hands all over Bruce's face and chest while he smiled at them. She took their meal orders and headed back once more._

 _After a while, she went to go deliver the food, but the models weren't with Bruce._

 _"_ _Where are your friends?" she asked._

 _"_ _I'm sure they're around here somewhere."_

 _The sound of obnoxious giggles rang out behind her. She turned around to find the two women behind the bar while the bartender kept flirting with them._

 _"_ _Bruce, they can't be back there," she told him._

 _"_ _Don't worry about them," he smiled. "Just worry about making sure our food gets here."  
_

 _When Bruce and his models finished everything, she went to go clean their table as they stood up to leave._

 _"_ _Thanks, El. You're a pal," Bruce said. He gave her a small pat on the shoulder before wrapping his arms around the waists of his lady friends._

 _"_ _He probably just wasn't prepared to see you," Jess tried to reassure her, seeing the extremely disappointed look on her friend's face._

 _Eliana didn't respond, unable to form words at the moment._

 _When she was let off work, she went home as fast as she could, showered, ate, and went to bed._

 _It wasn't until she felt a small plop onto the pillow she was hugging did she realize that she was crying._

* * *

"It's been a while," Bruce said to her, abruptly bringing her back to the present.

"Ten years, if you want to get technical," she said sharply.

Was that guilt she saw cross his face? She couldn't exactly be sure…

"I thought you worked at that restaurant," he changed the subject.

"I do. That's my second job. I work here during the day."

"You work two jobs?"

"Gotta pay bills somehow. Not everyone has what they want delivered to them on a silver platter."

Silence stretched across the room at her icy words. Bruce wasn't used to this girl. He was used to the one who was nearly always smiling at him when they were together.

"What can I help you with?" she asked him.

"My Lamborghini's acting up, and I was hoping someone could tell me what's wrong with it."

"Sure thing. But you will have to be put on the list behind all the others. You can pay me as much money as you want. You're still going to have to wait your turn."

"I understand."

He understood? Eliana was half-expecting him to hop right back into his car and find another garage. It seemed like something he would do now.

She just didn't get him. He was acting a lot different than he had at the restaurant a couple years ago. In fact…he was acting more like the person she used to call her best friend.

"Why are you here anyway? Couldn't you just get someone to come by the Manor?"

"It started acting up while I was out so I figured I would just drive it in."

"Works for me. We'll let you know when we figure out what the problem is and when it's fixed."

"Thanks."

She looked at his facial expressions and could see…well, it looked kind of like pain. Like he was harboring something on his shoulders that was weighing him down. She had a strong feeling it had to do with Rachel. Her death couldn't have been easy on him. He had been in love with her after all, and that was a lot to put on anyone.

Maybe that was what was making him act differently than before.


	3. Cold Heart

"Hey, Eliana!" Jess called. "I'm swamped. Can you take Table 9?"

Eliana looked over and saw Bruce Wayne and a couple of models seated at the table. "No, no, no, no, no, Jess," she begged. "I will take any other table. Please do not make me serve Bruce Wayne."

"Come on, El, it's the dinner rush and I have several orders to fill. I'll pay you back with something, I promise."

Eliana sighed before grabbing a tray and walking over to the table. Putting on her happy, peppy waitress face, she said, "Hi, my name is Eliana, and I'll be your server tonight. Can I start you off with something to drink?"

Bruce looked up and met Eliana's eyes. Wow…had his eyes always been such a vibrant green…?

He smiled up at her, but she noticed that his smile didn't really reach up to those vibrant eyes. "We'll just take some water for right now. Can you make it quick?"

Eliana pulled her mouth into a thin smile. "Sure, coming right up."

Jess smiled as Eliana came back. "It's not so bad, is it?"

"Oh, you owe me big time," Eliana muttered.

Eliana delivered the water and then took their meal orders. The models he was with were rubbing their hands on his arms and chest seductively. Eliana rolled her eyes, but didn't allow them to see that.

Throughout the night, she kept sneaking glances over at the table, and almost every time, she caught Bruce looking at her. The other times, he was smiling like an idiot as he stroked the models' hair and arms.

Why did it seem like he had two personalities? The one he had whenever he was with those models of his, and the one he had when he dropped off his car at the auto shop.

She had known him so well for years as they grew up together. Now he was like a complete and total stranger.

* * *

A couple days later, Eliana was in the garage of the auto shop about to do some work on one of the cars she had to get done before she started on Bruce's.

"Not working on my car yet?" she heard. She looked up to find Bruce walking into the garage.

"I told you," she said coldly. "We have a policy and we'll get to you eventually. Look, not many people work here, seeing as we're in the Narrows and most people enjoy not having their lives threatened on a daily basis, so it might take a while. If you want to take your car somewhere else, I wouldn't be surprised."

"It's not a problem," Bruce calmly insisted.

That was it.

"Okay, Bruce, what's the deal?" Eliana asked angrily. "You're acting like two different people! At the restaurant, you're a complete jerk who only pays attention to your dates, but here, you're polite and courteous! Who are you?"

"Come on, you grew up with me."

"And right now, I may as well have just met you. I don't know who you are. You're not the same guy who disappeared from Gotham, and I can't say that I didn't expect that. I don't know what you did or where you were, but it's understandable that you wouldn't be the same person. I get that. But why are you treating me like you treat everyone else when we've been best friends since we were kids?"

Bruce opened his mouth several times, trying to find words, but none came to him and he could not give her a suitable answer. He wanted to tell her about his double life and why he was acting this way. He wanted to tell her everything. She deserved it.

But the last time that happened, the woman he loved died and it destroyed him. He could never handle losing the other woman in his life that he cared so much for.

"Look, if you're not going to tell me that, can't you tell me where you were for those seven years and what you were doing?" Eliana asked him, seeing that he wasn't answering her previous question.

"Eliana…" Bruce started. "It's really…complicated."

She scoffed lightly, though she thought that sounded vaguely familiar. Hadn't someone else said that to her recently?

"When has our friendship ever been complicated?" She could answer that one for herself, knowing that at least for her there had been several instances where their friendship got extremely complicated, but she wanted to know what he thought. Seeing that he wasn't going to answer that either, she crossed her arms over her chest and asked him, "How are you holding up? With Rachel, I mean?"

Bruce felt his throat begin to constrict, and he once again failed to form words. Not a day had gone by that he hadn't thought of her, and every time, his heart clenched together so much that it hurt his chest. He had been in love with her. She had said she would wait for him. And it was his fault that she was dead now.

"What about you?" he forced out. "You guys were best friends."

"I'm coping," she answered, displeased with his avoidance of all her questions. "We kind of fell apart and weren't as close as we used to be."

"What happened?"

"Life. After you disappeared, both of our schedules got so crazy that we never had time to meet up or even talk, and our friendship kind of just broke off. Doesn't mean I wasn't devastated by her death. My bosses gave me a week off at both my jobs to deal with it. It was a really hard time."

"I'm sorry."

"Why didn't you come to me? We could've suffered through it together. No one was closer to Rachel than the two of us."

"I didn't know how to get in contact with you."

"Oh, don't give me that crap. You're Bruce Wayne. You could find anyone you wanted to. And I find it hard to believe that the person who used to be my best friend wouldn't have my number somewhere in that freakishly large mansion you live in."

Bruce was about to say something when another one of the workers came out to the garage.

"Hey, Eliana," the man said. "I need you to fill out some paperwork. And you're expected to have this car finished by closing tomorrow, so I'd get started."

"Alright, Tony. Just give me a second."

The man went back inside the shop and Eliana turned to face Bruce.

"I've gotta get back to work."

Bruce nodded and left the garage. The words 'used to' had hit him like a slap in the face. He realized that in keeping his secret from Eliana so as not to lose her as a friend, he had lost her all the same.

Eliana looked after the man departing from the garage. She began thinking back to the time she first met him.

* * *

 _"_ _Eliana, honey, don't wander off," her father said to her as they went inside Wayne Manor._

 _Five-year-old Eliana ignored her father's words and began to go up the stairs in the huge castle she was in. She felt like a princess in this place. So where was her prince? Well, besides her daddy…_

 _She opened one of the doors and saw a boy staring out the window. That had to be Bruce Wayne. She had seen him from afar at the funeral. But her daddy had told her that she should just be quiet and respectful, and she shouldn't talk to anyone because they were all sad. She didn't understand exactly why everyone was sad, but he told her that the boy had lost both of his parents. No one told her where they went and why they weren't coming back. All she knew was that they were gone._

 _Bruce turned around at the sound of the door opening and saw the little girl. Bruce didn't know who she was, or why she was in his house, but he really wasn't in the mood for seeing anyone. He couldn't just kick her out though. She probably didn't even understand what was going on._

 _All thoughts of being a princess rushed out of Eliana's mind at the sight of the boy's sad eyes. She couldn't even imagine what he felt like at that moment. She couldn't bear to lose her mommy and daddy. She knew that much._

 _"_ _Hi," she said quietly._

 _"_ _Hey," the boy responded. "What are you doing here?"_

 _"_ _My mommy and daddy needed to talk with Mr. Alfred. I think our daddies used to work together."_

 _Tears began to fill Bruce's eyes at the talk of parents._

 _"_ _I'm sorry!" Eliana said quickly as she noticed that he was getting sadder. That was why her daddy said not to talk to him. She would just make him sad. "I'll just go…"_

 _"_ _No," Bruce said. "It's not your fault."_

 _Eliana turned back to face him. She liked that the boy was nice even though she had made him upset. "My name's Eliana Forbes."_

 _"_ _I'm Bruce Wayne."_

 _"_ _I know."_

 _Bruce smiled a little at the girl's words. Everyone knew who the Waynes were, of course._

 _"_ _I'm five years old," the girl continued, proudly holding up five fingers._

 _"_ _I'm eight."_

 _"_ _So, you're not much older than me then!"_

 _"_ _I guess not."_

 _Eliana noticed that his face looked a little less sad and that made her happy because she didn't like it when people were sad._

 _"_ _Do you feel like a prince in this castle?"_

 _"_ _Well, it's not really…" Bruce started. He stopped when he saw Eliana's excited eyes. "Yeah, I do. It's a tough job though."_

 _"_ _Can I be the princess of the castle?" Eliana asked happily._

 _Bruce's smile widened at her adorableness. "Sure you can."_

 _"_ _Yay!"_

 _"_ _Eliana!" a voice called out. Her father came into the room, not looking happy. "I told you not to wander off." His voice became softer when he noticed that Bruce was in the room. "My apologies, Bruce. We didn't mean to disturb you."_

 _"_ _It's alright."_

 _"_ _Eliana, apologize for intruding."_

 _Eliana looked down at her feet. "I'm sorry, Bruce."_

 _"_ _You don't have to say you're sorry. It's fine."_

 _"_ _Let's go now." Her father took her up in his arms, and she watched curiously over his shoulder as the tears returned to Bruce's eyes once more._

* * *

"El!" a voice snapped behind her. "Come on, you're going to get fired!"

Eliana sighed and turned around. She smirked at Tony. "I can't get fired. No one else here even knows the definition of a rocker arm, much less how to fix one."

Tony chuckled. "What were you doing talking to Bruce Wayne anyway?"

"I'm supposed to be fixing his car once I get this one done."

"Why is he coming here of all places?"

"Not sure."

"You seemed pretty peeved at him. I didn't even know you knew him."

Eliana looked in the direction Bruce had left. "I don't."


	4. Taken

As soon as Eliana got off work, she ran back to her apartment and changed into her black pants and formal white button-up shirt with the black tie and then tossed her hair into a high ponytail. Constantly having to be at one job or another really wore her down. She missed those long gone days when she got to have a little time to herself.

She rushed to the restaurant and her second job began.

"Whoa, El, if I put an egg on you, I could have a fried egg in seconds," Jess remarked. "What's got you so steamed?"

"It's nothing," she answered as she picked up a tray.

"It wouldn't have anything to do with Bruce Wayne, would it?" Judging from the very annoyed look Eliana gave her, Jess knew she was right. "What's the problem this time?"

"You know we've been best friends since I was five and he was eight, right? Well, now I feel like I hardly know him!"

"Yeah, from what I've read, he's a party-hard playboy who spends his nights with foreign models."

"Exactly. That's not the Bruce Wayne I grew up with. I don't know what happened during those seven years he was gone, but I guarantee you that he wouldn't act like this as a result. It's just not who he was."

"Are you sure? You saw how he treated you when he came in here a few years ago after his disappearance."

"That's just it! Yesterday, he brought his car into the auto shop where I work and then stopped by again today, and both times, he was just like the Bruce I remember!"

"Keep an open mind, El. Maybe he's trying to fix things between you guys."

"Then why does he have two different personalities with me? One at the auto shop and a totally different one here?"

"Well, find out why! Maybe he has a good reason. Come on, do you have any idea how many girls would kill to be in your shoes? To be best friends with Bruce Wayne is basically every woman's dream. The man is gorgeous."

"Well, lately, being his friend has just brought tears and confusion. Not sure it's all worth it."

"Don't let Kara hear you. She's been trying to meet Bruce for months. She's literally been waiting by the phone for hours each night for him to make a reservation here and then demand for her to be his waitress, but each time something happens, and someone else serves him. She's totally jealous of your friendship with him."

"Like I said, there's nothing to be jealous of."

"Whatever. I still think you two should talk it out. What's the worst that could happen? You already hate his guts so it's not like your hatred for him can get much stronger."

Eliana rolled her eyes and continued to serve her guests, her thoughts drifting all night back over to Bruce Wayne.

* * *

Eliana went outside the auto shop at closing to find it pouring rain.

"Oh, perfect!" she groaned.

She quickly tossed the hood up on her raincoat and locked the doors to the auto shop. When she turned around, she screamed as she bumped into someone's hard chest causing her hood to fall off, dousing her hair in the rain. To her relief and disappointment, she realized it was Bruce.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him.

"I thought you could use a ride. It's not safe to walk home in this."

"I've walked home on nights like this for ten years, so I don't need a ride now. And for your information, I've fought more people than Batman himself. I don't worry about going places that aren't considered safe."

She tried to walk away, but Bruce gently grabbed her arm. "Come on, Eliana. Please let me take you home."

"So now you start to care?" she asked him furiously.

"I've always cared."

"Yeah, right. You haven't cared about me ever since you disappeared from Gotham without telling anyone what your plans were."

"That's not true."

"You name one thing that you've done for me since you got back."

Bruce opened his mouth to give her an answer but quickly realized that he didn't have one for her. He couldn't tell her that he only stayed away from her to keep her safe. If he did, he'd have to explain everything, and he just couldn't do that.

"See? You don't care. I don't know why or what happened to make you that way, but I just…I can't deal with this right now."

She angrily stormed off into the rain, water droplets pouring from her hair to the ground, her hood now completely useless.

Bruce sighed and shook his head. Why could he not get through to her? What could he possibly do to make her see that he still cared about her?

* * *

Eliana rolled up her sleeves and opened up the hood to Bruce's Lamborghini. She was briefly tempted to mess with all of the machinery and give him a nice surprise the next time he went driving, but she wasn't that low. Plus, she'd probably get fired, and she really needed this job.

"So you finally decided to start working on my car?"

Eliana took a deep breath and bit her cheek. Trying to heed Jess's words, she turned to face Bruce. "You know, most people drop off their car and don't come back until we call them saying it's done."

"Well, I never really did follow the rules, did I?" Bruce chuckled lightly.

Eliana swallowed her anger and tried to get the truth out of him. "Bruce, if our friendship meant anything to you, please. Tell me what happened to you during those seven years you were gone."

Bruce wanted to. He wanted more than anything to tell Eliana how those seven years changed him and led him to become Batman. He wanted to tell her why he wasn't telling her. He wanted to tell her that he cared about her more than she knew. But if he told her anything, her life was in danger. Just like Rachel's had been.

Eliana saw that he wasn't going to answer her. That was the last straw.

"Bruce Wayne!" Eliana shouted, shaking him out of his thoughts. "I don't understand you! What happened between us? Why are you keeping all these secrets from me? Ever since you got back from who-knows-where, you have only cared about one thing: yourself. Well, you know what? Fine. I don't care anymore. Don't worry about all the people in Gotham who are getting robbed, beaten, and kidnapped on a daily basis. You just keep on caring only for yourself. I don't know what happened to that guy who was my best friend, but you're not him. Now just get out of here. Someone will call you when the car's done."

Bruce sighed and left the garage once more. Each word from Eliana's mouth was like a knife into his chest. If only she knew just what he spent his nights doing. He wasn't the same guy he was before he left Gotham for seven years, but he wasn't heartless either, despite what he had led everyone to believe.

He wanted his friend back. But there was only one way to do that. And he wasn't sure he was ready yet. She might not be ready for it either.

Eliana grit her teeth as she watched Bruce's back, an increasingly familiar sight. She missed the times when things were simpler between them. Well, maybe not simpler, but they were definitely happier.

* * *

 _Eliana sat at the table alone, her chin resting on her hand. This night hadn't exactly turned out the way she had hoped._

 _It was Gotham High's prom night, and it was Eliana's first official dance. She had spent a lot of money on her dress and her hair, and she looked absolutely flawless._

 _Her date was evidently blind._

 _About an hour after she and Jared arrived, he left her alone on the dance floor and went to go flirt with Linda, the big senior 'it' girl in school. In Eliana's opinion and pretty much everyone else's, Linda's dress was revealing way too much cleavage, and she looked like a raccoon with all that makeup caked onto her eyes. It was like the makeup decided to grow a face._

 _Eliana looked much more beautiful in comparison, but not to Jared. So now there she was, sitting at a table, having a miserable time._

 _"_ _Where's Jared?"_

 _Eliana looked up to find Bruce coming over to her. "Ditched me. Where's Rachel?"_

 _"_ _Talking with some friends. What do you mean he ditched you?"_

 _"_ _He's with Linda. I guess I wasn't good enough for him."_

 _"_ _No, you're_ too _good for him," Bruce said firmly. "He didn't deserve to take you to this dance anyway. You deserve someone much better than him."_

 _Eliana laughed a little at his attempts to cheer her up. "Thanks."_

 _A slow song began playing over the speakers._

 _"_ _Madam," Bruce said, extending his hand. "May I have this dance?"_

 _"_ _What about Rachel?"_

 _"_ _She won't mind. I don't think Jared will either. Come on, just one dance."_

 _"_ _Well…alright."_

 _She took Bruce's awaiting hand and he led her out onto the dance floor. He gently pressed his hands onto her waist and she wrapped her arms around his neck as they began swaying to the music. They stayed like that for a little while until the song began to pick up. Bruce then gently took Eliana's hand in his own and danced around with her in a small waltz. She smiled up at him, surprised at his dancing ability._

 _Perhaps this night wasn't so bad after all._

* * *

Eliana sighed and started to get back to work on Bruce's car.

She was busy at work and had just discovered the root of the problem when her head whipped up at the sound of footsteps. Two men walked in, and right away, she knew that this wasn't going to be good. They both had on a black hoodie and sunglasses, despite the usual gloomy day in Gotham.

"Is there something I can help you boys with?"

"We're under orders," one of them said to her.

"Orders from who?"

They didn't answer her, but that didn't surprise her. One of them lunged for her, but she was able to punch him in the face before he got to her. While he held his nose in pain, the other came after her as well. She started fighting with him and ended up getting distracted from what the other man was doing. In the midst of her fight, she felt a sudden stabbing pain on her neck, and a liquid began surging through her veins. Her body started to scream for mercy and her head felt like a thousand needles were all being shoved into her brain at once.

She wasn't sure whether it was from the mystery liquid or all of the pain, but she suddenly blacked out.


	5. Torture

Eliana could hear various voices echoing in her head. Her eyes refused to open at first, still weary and unsure of what was going on. Maybe her eyes were trying to save her from whatever she would see if she opened them.

Nevertheless, she forced her tired eyes to open and she found that her arms were tied to the armrests on a chair and her feet were bound. Five men were standing around her, all of them wearing sunglasses and hoodies.

"What's going on, guys?" she asked.

"Shut up," one of them said to her. He had an unkempt beard that could've used a trim.

"You wanna tell me what this is all about?"

"He said shut up." This one had really bad breath, and she didn't really feel like hiding her disgust.

"Dude, there's a great invention called a breath mint. You should try it."

Bad-Breath slapped her across the face. It hurt a little, but she had a feeling that things were about to get worse.

"Anyone want to tell me what the master plan is here?"

"We don't have to tell you anything," a man with a really gruff voice said. If she didn't know any better, she'd say that he was trying to impersonate Batman.

"So you're just going to leave me wondering why you all kidnapped me?"

"Aren't you afraid of us?" a man with a bit of scruff asked her.

"I've been through a lot in my years. Been attacked several times on my way home and at work, lost both of my best friends, one presumed dead but actually wasn't and one really dead, and had a few run-ins with some nasty folk. You guys can only do so much to me."

"We were told you had a high pain tolerance," the last kidnapper said with an extremely menacing and sadistic tone. "We came prepared."

"I seriously doubt that. And lose the voice. It doesn't scare me."

"It's not the voice that should scare you."

"Is that a threat?"

"More like a warning."

Eliana scoffed. "Look, if you guys want to tell me what's going on, then the quicker you can do whatever you need to and I can go home."

Sadistic-Voice punched her hard in the stomach, forcibly knocking the wind out of her. She bent over as much as she was allowed and coughed heavily. She certainly had not been prepared for that one.

"Home is a loose term for you now," Sadistic-Voice said as he roughly grabbed her head in his hand.

"What do you plan to do?"

"All in good time, sweetheart. We're gonna have some real fun in the days ahead." He took out a knife and gently pressed it against her face. The cold steel of it against her skin made her heart skip a beat. "You will be broken."

"Try. Your. Best."

"Oh, don't worry. We'll do more than that."

* * *

"Hey, El, how long—"

Tony stopped when he saw that Eliana was not in the garage. There were clearly signs of a struggle and in this part of Gotham, that only meant one thing. He ran back inside the office and grabbed the phone.

"Gotham Police Department, what's your emergency?" a voice said on the other end.

"I think one of my co-workers, Eliana Forbes, has been kidnapped," he said quickly. "She was last seen at the auto shop in the Narrows. There's signs of a struggle in the garage. I think she's been taken."

"We're sending some help to your location right away."

Commissioner Gordon was furious when he found out that Eliana had been taken. She had delivered countless criminals to him after beating them down with her bare hands, so he was fully aware that this must be serious. Eliana never went down without a fight. That was why he admired her to so much and tried to convince her on multiple occasions that she should join the police force. As soon as he had received news of her kidnapping, he made it his top priority to find her.

This was personal.

* * *

As Eliana sat in the chair she was tied to, the five men paced around her. She tried not to show fear, but she had no idea what they were going to do to her. All she knew was that she may not make it out alive if they hurt her enough. She had never been in this kind of situation before. She nearly always got the upper-hand, and when she didn't, it didn't take long for someone to help her. What frustrated her most was that no one would tell her why they even took her.

"Really, guys, this is getting old. Can't we just get to the part where you kill me?"

"Whoever said we were going to kill you?" Sadistic-Voice asked her.

"So you're not going to kill me, and you're not going to let me go home. I'm really fed up with the guessing games."

Sadistic-Voice punched her in the face. She could taste blood as pain shot through her cheek. "Enough talking."

"I just want to know why you're doing this, you lunatic."

He punched her again on her other cheek and more blood filled her mouth. "I said…enough talking."

"Make no mistake, miss," Batman-Impersonator said. "We will break you. Your choice of how long it takes."

"Let's play a little game," Sadistic-Voice said to her. "We're going to count and see how long it takes for us to get the result we want." He took her right index finger in his hand and bent it in such a way that a sickening crack rang out. Eliana screamed at the intense pain. "One." He took her next finger and cracked it like the other. "Two." He went over to her other hand and took the pinky finger. "Three." Tears started streaming down Eliana's cheeks at her three broken fingers. Sadistic-Voice smiled. "Four."

"Stop it!" Eliana screamed. "Please, just stop!"

Four broken fingers before he stopped. "Not bad. Most people only make it to one."

Unkempt-Beard started laughing. "Alright, it's my turn!"

"Not yet!" Sadistic-Voice snapped. "We have to space it out, remember? Let's let her live with that for a while and then we'll move on to the next game."

Eliana's tear-stained face looked up at them. What else did they have in mind for her? She was sure that this was just the beginning.


	6. Flashbacks

Every time Eliana moved one of her hands, pain shot through her whole arm. She could tell that all of them, especially Sadistic-Voice, were enjoying her pain. And they weren't even close to being finished with her. All she had gathered was that they weren't going to kill her, so they were just going to torture her for some sick reason.

Her thoughts wandered back to when Bruce disappeared from Gotham. When everything changed.

She would never forget that day.

* * *

 _There was a knock on Eliana's door at her dorm at Gotham University. She got up from her desk and went to answer it._

 _"_ _Hey, El."_

 _"_ _Bruce!" Eliana exclaimed, hugging her best friend. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you at Princeton?"_

 _"_ _I'm back for the hearing where Joe Chill is going to be released. Someone has to stand for my parents. To think they're even thinking of releasing him…"_

 _Eliana's face fell. "I'm sorry. I know this must be difficult for you. I would totally come to support you, but I have a class in about twenty minutes and I don't think I'll get out in time. But Rachel will be there."_

 _Bruce scoffed. "I still don't understand how her boss could be letting him go."_

 _"_ _Desperate times call for desperate measures."_

 _"_ _I wish they'd find some other way."_

 _"_ _I know. We all do. I wish we could talk more, but I'm going to be late. Come see me tomorrow before you head back, okay?"_

 _"_ _I'll try."_

 _"_ _Come on, Bruce. Don't leave without seeing me. I've really missed you."_

 _"_ _I'll do my best, El."_

 _"_ _Alright. I'll see you soon and we'll go grab some coffee."_

 _The next day, Eliana was walking back from her class and heading back to her dorm to start on her homework. It was a rather warm day, an unusual occurrence in Gotham, but it was certainly welcomed. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She hoped it was Bruce calling to set up a time to see her, but when she took it out, she saw that it was Alfred._

 _"_ _Hey, Alfred!" she said. "What's going on?"_

 _"_ _Miss Forbes, have you seen Master Bruce at all recently?"_

 _"_ _Um…not since yesterday before the hearing. Why?"_

 _"_ _He never came home last night, and I'm rather concerned."_

 _Eliana slowed her pace until she had stopped walking. "Oh. Okay…um, let me ask around, and I'll let you know if I find anything, alright?"_

 _"_ _Very good, ma'am. I'll do the same."_

 _"_ _Thanks, Alfred. Bye."_

 _Eliana nervously paced around in her dorm room, hoping to get some kind of call from Bruce. There was a knock on her door, and she quickly ran to it, hoping to find Bruce on the other side, but instead saw it was Rachel. To her shock, she was crying._

 _"_ _El, it's all my fault!" Rachel cried._

 _"_ _What are you talking about?"_

 _"_ _It's my fault Bruce is gone!"_

 _Eliana let Rachel into the room and closed the door. "What do you mean it's your fault?"_

 _"_ _After the hearing, Joe Chill was shot and killed by one of Falcone's assassins. I started driving Bruce home, and he was making me so upset by the way he was acting. He was actually talking about thanking Falcone for killing Chill. You know he brought a gun to the hearing? He had planned on shooting Chill! I brought him to where Falcone usually is, and he angrily got out of the car because I told him his father would be ashamed of him for wanting to kill Chill. He went inside, and Falcone must've killed him! If I hadn't brought him there, or if I had just made sure he got out safe, he would be okay!"_

 _"_ _Rachel, it's okay," Eliana said to her sobbing friend. "Look, we all know that Falcone doesn't exactly hide his work. He takes pride in it. So if he killed Bruce, I'm sure we would've found a body by now."_

 _"_ _Then where could he be?"_

 _"…_ _I don't know."_

* * *

The days after that were spent watching the news with constant reports about Bruce's disappearance. For months, every phone call, every text, every voicemail brought hope to her that Bruce had gotten in contact with her. And each time, she was disappointed. Soon, people said he was presumed dead and he was later declared officially dead.

She could remember the memorial service as if it was yesterday. Reporters flocked the place, but she knew that only she, Alfred, and Rachel really cared about him being gone.

It brought her back to that time so many years ago when she attended Bruce's parents' funeral and met the young boy. Then, she didn't understand what was happening. Now, she wished she still didn't.

Maybe Jess was right, and Bruce was trying to fix things between them. Maybe he wanted to be friends with her again, but she kept shutting him out. If she got out of this, she swore to mend the rift between them.

"Hey, it's time," Sadistic-Voice said to Unkempt-Beard.

"Time for what?" Eliana mustered out.

"Game Number Two."

"I had so much fun in Game Number One that I think I could use a break. And a couple of splints."

Bad-Breath angrily came over to her and bent one of her broken fingers, causing tears to come to her eyes and a scream to exit her mouth at the pain.

"You just can't shut up, can you?" he asked her.

For once, Eliana remained silent, unwilling to have her broken fingers touched any longer.

"That's better."

She watched in horror as her captors began putting gel pads with wires extending out of them on her head, arms, stomach, and legs. Then Unkempt-Beard hooked the wires up to a machine and fiddled with some of the dials. He looked over at her and smiled.

"And the game begins…now."

He flipped the machine on and Eliana felt electricity shoot through her body. Her breathing came in short gasps as her whole body shook violently which made her broken fingers hurt even more.

The machine flipped off and she heard everyone around her laughing, watching her body continue to shake.

"You guys are jerks, you know that right?" she asked weakly.

The laughter stopped and the machine turned on again. Once more, Eliana felt pain beyond belief course through her.

"Maybe so," Sadistic-Voice said, "but we're not the ones tied to a chair."

It was the last thing she remembered before she blacked out.

* * *

 _"_ _Bruce! I'm here!" Eliana called as she came into the Manor._

 _"_ _Eliana, it's rude to shout," her father gently berated her._

 _Bruce appeared at the top of the steps with another girl who looked around Bruce's age if not only a year or two younger._

 _"_ _Hi, Bruce!" Eliana said happily._

 _"_ _Hey, Eliana," he replied as he and the girl came down the stairs. "This is my best friend, Rachel. Rachel, this is Eliana."_

 _"_ _It's nice to meet you," Rachel said. "I've heard a lot about you."_

 _"_ _I've heard a lot about you too!"_

 _"_ _Okay," Eliana's father said. "I'll be back to pick you up tonight, alright?"_

 _"_ _Okay. Bye, Daddy!"_

 _Her father left the Manor and the children were alone._

 _"_ _Let's play hide-and-seek!" Rachel exclaimed._

 _"_ _I'll count!" Bruce said. He faced the wall and began counting as Rachel and Eliana ran around the Manor to find a place to hide._

 _Eliana hide behind a curtain on the second floor and it wasn't much longer before she heard footsteps slowly coming up the stairs. She quietly giggled to herself as Bruce looked for her._

 _Bruce wasn't an idiot, and he could clearly see the feet underneath the curtain and hear her giggles. "Eliana?" he called, pretending he didn't know where she was. "Where are you? I know you're here somewhere. Eliana…" He slowly approached the curtain and pushed it aside where a giggling Eliana stood. "Found you!"_

 _Eliana squealed and tried to run away, but Bruce chased after her. It didn't take long for him to catch her and he began tickling her while she laughed happily._

 _"_ _Okay, okay! You found me!" she gasped._

 _Bruce chuckled and stood back up. "Come on," he said as he took her hand. "Let's go find Rachel."_


	7. Poison

Eliana awoke to Bad-Breath slapping her face.

"Wake up," he ordered.

Her vision focused, and she could still feel the effects of the last 'game' they had put her through taking its toll. At least the gel pads were off her body which meant that stupid 'game' was over.

Batman-Impersonator came over to her, and she saw a syringe in his hand. He lifted up her shirt and she began squirming, unsure of what he had in mind. He then took the needle and plunged it into her stomach. He took his time inserting the liquid. It sent an unbearable burning sensation throughout her, going from her feet up to her head. Unfortunately, the liquid didn't cause her to pass out. Whether that was good or bad, she didn't know yet. So far, it was bad.

"How does that feel?" Batman-Impersonator asked with a sick smile.

Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of her admitting he was succeeding in torturing her, but also not wanting him to do anything more, she chose to stay silent.

"Well, look at that. I think I got her to shut up."

"That can be remedied," Unkempt-Beard chuckled darkly.

He came at her with another syringe and placed it into the other side of her stomach. The burning sensation multiplied by at least a hundred, and Eliana began crying out in pain as tears sank down her cheeks. Sweat poured down her arms and her face as the pain intensified. She could feel her hair becoming moist as some of it stuck to her face. She had never experienced such pain in her entire life which was saying a lot considering she had just been practically electrocuted.

How long had she been held here? It felt like days, but it could've only been hours as far as she knew.

"What…what day is it?" she mustered out.

"What does that matter?" Bad-Breath asked.

"I…just want to know."

"Take your best guess."

Eliana was beyond frustrated at this point. She'd been kidnapped and still didn't know the reason, there were five guys who basically wanted nothing more than to harm her, and they were successfully breaking her.

"Alright, that's enough," Sadistic-Voice said to the others. He leaned in close to her. "We'll just let you sit here and wait until our next little…game."

Was she going to die like Rachel…?

* * *

 _Eliana collapsed onto the couch after working at the restaurant for longer than usual. She flipped on the news, and saw with dismay that things were as grisly as ever, which was to be expected since this maniac calling himself The Joker was running around Gotham. She longed for a day where she could turn on the news and not see someone kidnapped or murdered._

 _But tonight was different._

 _She saw footage of a burnt and demolished building with firefighters trying to put out the remains of the fire that must've brought it to the ground._

 _Her stomach flipped when she heard the news anchor speaking over the footage._

 _"_ _District Attorney Harvey Dent is now at Gotham General being treated for third-degree burns to the face. However, Assistant District Attorney Rachel Dawes was not as lucky and perished in the building that exploded on 250 52_ _nd_ _Street."_

 _Eliana zoned out as tears blurred her view of the television. She refused to believe that she heard correctly. With shaking hands, she picked up her phone and dialed Gordon's number._

 _"_ _James Gordon," he answered._

 _"_ _Gordon," Eliana said numbly. "Is it true? Is Rachel dead?"_

 _There was a pregnant pause before he answered, "Yes."_

 _"_ _Are you sure?" she cried._

 _"_ _Yes, we're sure. I'm so sorry, Eliana. We tried to get to her, but we just weren't fast enough."_

 _"_ _It's alright, Gordon. I know you tried your best."_

 _She hung up the phone as tears slid down her cheeks._

 _Rachel was dead? The girl she had known since she was five had been killed?_

 _She picked up her phone and went to her 'Contacts' list. After scrolling down a bit, she came across his name: 'Bruce Wayne'. Her finger lingered over his name, but she ended up not pushing the button. She couldn't do it. Not after what had happened between them._

 _Eliana's eyes flickered back over to the TV. She couldn't believe it._

 _Her best friend was dead._

* * *

Eliana was alone in the room with only one of her captors. She had no idea where the others were, but she was glad to be free of them, if only for a little while. Her hair was stringy and sweat-drenched from the last 'game', and her head was currently resting against her chest, too worn out to hold it up.

"Hey," Scruff-Guy said, coming up to her. Eliana realized that this one had barely said two words to her the entire time she had been here. She forced her head up to look at him. "I, uh, I bet you must be hungry."

Was he trying to torture her in a new way? Psychologically? Of course she was hungry. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd eaten.

"It's not much, but it should hold you over for a little while," Scruff-Guy said. He took out a granola bar and started breaking off pieces. Then he slowly held them up for her and fed her the food. Eliana ate slowly, afraid she'd throw everything back up if the torture resumed anytime soon. But at the same time, she wanted to guzzle the whole thing down, not realizing how hungry she was until she started eating.

After the granola bar was gone, Scruff-Guy took out a bottle of water and gently lifted up her head so she didn't choke when the water went down her throat. The clear liquid felt amazing on her parched tongue.

"Thank you," she said quietly without looking at him.

* * *

Hours passed by painstakingly slow as Eliana waited for the torture to resume. She longed to see the light of day and feel the sun on her face. She wanted to get back to her small apartment. She wanted to see her best friend again and apologize for how she had been treating him.

The door opened and her four other captors returned.

"We got it," Sadistic-Voice laughed. "Untie her."

Bad-Breath and Batman-Impersonator untied her red and raw wrists from the chair while Unkempt-Beard got her feet.

Then she was painfully pulled up from the chair. Her legs wobbled underneath her for a second due to disuse for however long it had been. Bad-Breath and Batman-Impersonator firmly held her arms.

"Open her mouth," Sadistic-Voice commanded.

Bad-Breath pulled her head back and Sadistic-Voice forced some kind of liquid down her throat that made her gag.

As the liquid took effect, she felt her senses beginning to falter. The voices of the men sounded echo-y and far away. Her head began buzzing painfully.

When she looked up, her captors were wearing masks. Clown masks. They seemed to open their mouths wide enough to swallow her whole and their eyes popped out of their skulls, looming close to her.

What on earth had they given her?

Without warning, one of them punched her in the gut, making her cough blood onto the floor. Another punched her in the face. One of them took her head in their hands and forced her to the floor where they all began kicking her all over her body.

Tears ran down Eliana's face making paths through the dirt on her cheeks. They all laughed above her, greatly enjoying her pain.

Then Sadistic-Voice firmly grabbed her arms and made her get off the floor. Her legs faltered, but he forced her to stand up. "Go for it," he laughed to another one of her captors.

"Wait," Scruff-Guy said, whipping off his mask. "Guys, I think she's had enough for now."

"You ain't going soft, are you?" Unkempt-Beard asked.

"Look at her, she can barely stand up!"

"So what?" Bad-Breath laughed. "We were told to break her."

"Yeah, and she's broken. You won. Now give her a rest."

"She's had enough of a rest! This is the best game yet!"

"It isn't a game!" Scruff-Guy shouted. "You're killing her!"

Sadistic-Voice laughed. "You've gone soft for her, haven't you? Well, this isn't your show, it's mine. And I say that it's his turn to have fun."

"You're not in charge! Or did you forget about the guy who planned this whole thing?"

"Well, he ain't here, now is he?"

Unkempt-Beard charged at Eliana with a potentially lethal blow. But before the blow could hit her, she was knocked to the floor and out of Sadistic-Voice's hold. Hitting the ground hurt a lot as she landed on two of her broken fingers.

Through her foggy vision, she could make out a man dressed all in black with a covered face that left only his eyes and his chin showing. Batman.

She watched with labored breathing as he took out all five of her captors with ease. Then he came over to her and put his hand to her face, checking to see if she was alive and how bad the damage was.

"You're…you're a little late," she mustered out with a strained laugh. It was all she could get out before she slipped into unconsciousness.


	8. In the Hospital

_It was the anniversary of Bruce's parents' death, and that could only mean one thing: Bruce was at their grave site._

 _Rachel and Eliana carefully approached him in the small area near the mansion where his parents were buried._

 _"_ _Bruce?" Eliana said cautiously._

 _"_ _I miss them," the 15-year-old boy said to his two best friends without looking at them. They could hear the utter sorrow in his voice, and it broke their hearts._

 _"_ _I know. I can't even imagine how you must be feeling."_

 _"_ _We all loved them, Bruce," Rachel told him. "We miss them too."_

 _"_ _I hate that man for what he did," Bruce said. "I hate him more than anything."_

 _Eliana looked at him sadly as she knelt down next to him. "I don't blame you. I would too."_

 _Rachel went to the other side of him and knelt down as well so that all three of them were on their knees in front of the graves for Thomas and Martha Wayne. "Just don't always focus on what you lost. Don't lose sight of what you have."_

 _"_ _She's right. We'll always be here for you, Bruce. No matter what. Because that's what friends are for."_

 _The two girls embraced the young boy as tears made their way down his cheeks at the memories of his late parents, silently letting him know that he wasn't alone in this hard time._

* * *

Eliana awoke to the steady sound of beeping monitors, a sound she never thought she would be grateful to hear. She looked around her and saw that she was in a hospital room. Her body was bandaged in several areas, and some of her fingers were secured into splints.

"You're awake!" someone exclaimed. She turned her head to the door to find a nurse looking in on her. The woman slowly stepped into the room and came next to the bed. "I'm Etta. I'm your nurse. You're at Gotham General. Do you remember anything?"

"I remember…five guys. And…Batman."

The nurse smiled a little at the mention of the vigilante. Secretly, Etta had always been a huge fan of him even though she didn't let on that she was. She was a sucker for a superhero.

"You've been in a coma for four days," she explained. "You had four broken fingers, a couple of bruised ribs, and some cuts and bruises, all of which have been fixed up. You also had some chemicals in your system, but they've been removed from your blood stream. I'll get you some Jell-O so we can ease you back into eating again, and then if you don't mind, Commissioner Gordon wants to talk to you."

Eliana nodded, and the nurse began to leave the room.

"By the way," the nurse said, turning back to her. "Between you and me, I think Batman's a hero, especially since he saved you. Murderers don't go around saving people."

"I agree," Eliana said with a small smile. She sighed and leaned back on the bed. It was over. She was away from her captors. She was free.

Later on, after Eliana had adjusted to her surroundings and gotten some food in her system, Commissioner Gordon knocked on her door.

"Hey," she smiled.

"You have no idea how good it is to see your face, Eliana," he said, coming into the room.

"Same goes for you."

"Are you sure you're up for talking about what happened? You just woke up a few hours ago."

"Gordon, it's me. You know I can handle it."

"Alright, let's start at the beginning." Gordon took out a pad of paper and looked to Eliana for her story.

"I was in the garage working, and two guys came in. I fought with one of them, but then I got drugged by the other. I woke up tied to a chair, and there were a total of five men."

"Can you describe them?"

"A little bit. I kind of called them by their features. There was Sadistic-Voice, Batman-Impersonator, Scruff-Guy, Bad-Breath, and Unkempt-Beard. I know that's not really much to go on, but it's all I've got."

"That's alright. What happened after you woke up?"

"They said they wanted to break me. So they started with breaking my fingers, and then they electrocuted me, and then they gave me some kind of liquid that burned everything, and to wrap it up, they drugged me with something and then put on clown masks while they beat me. And the whole time, I hardly ever got anything to eat or drink."

"How did you get out?"

"Uh…Batman was there. He beat them all and that's all I remember before I blacked out."

"Anything else?"

"Um, there is one thing. There was talk about someone else. I don't think these guys were doing this just because. I think there's someone else out there controlling them who planned this whole thing for whatever reason. I never got a name though."

"Thanks, Eliana. Rest up now, alright?"

"Gordon?" she called before he left the room. "How long was I gone?"

Gordon sighed and looked at her. "Six days."

* * *

That night, Eliana was greeted by a familiar face.

"Bruce," she smiled, sitting up a little.

"That's the nicest greeting I've gotten from you in months," he told her.

"Torture can do that to a person."

"Eliana, only you could get kidnapped and tortured for days and still make a joke about it."

She smiled a little at him. "I wanted to talk to you."

"So did I." He took a seat in the chair next to her bed.

"Bruce, I've been…really awful to you lately. You were trying to fix our friendship, and I just kept pushing you away. I'm sorry."

"No. Eliana, it was my fault. I should've reached out to you when I got back to Gotham. There were just certain things happening at the time that I wasn't prepared to deal with yet. I was inconsiderate, and I would do anything to go back and do things differently."

"Well, it's in the past now. So from here on out, we'll both make an effort to treat each other like the friends we used to be."

"Agreed."

There was a pause before Eliana said, "Bruce…will you please…stay with me for tonight?"

Bruce let a small smile cross his face. "Of course."

Eliana soon fell asleep with Bruce following suit not long after. He was abruptly knocked out of his sleep by the sound of Eliana whimpering and crying out next to him. He looked over at her and saw her lightly thrashing around in her bed which was sure to irritate her injuries.

"Eliana," he said gently, putting his hands on her head. "It's alright, it's alright. You're okay. You're safe."

Eliana awoke and met eyes with Bruce. Her eyes misted with tears that slowly began to roll down her cheeks. Bruce sat down on the bed and took her up in his arms, letting her cry in his embrace. She felt so safe as his arms wrapped around her small, damaged body.

Eliana was a really tough girl and she had been ever since she was little. In fact, he wasn't sure he could ever remember a time when she cried in front of him or anyone else. But everyone had a breaking point, and it seemed that her tormenters had managed to successfully hit that point.

Bruce felt a rage boil up inside him that he hadn't felt in a really long time. The whole reason he had drifted away from Eliana was to keep her safe, and she still ended up getting kidnapped and tortured despite that. It had all been for nothing.

"You're safe, El. Nothing can hurt you while I'm around. I promise."

* * *

The five captors stood in a line, all of them beaten and bruised after their confrontation with the Batman.

"Well, well, well," their leader said, pacing back and forth in front of them. "You guys really did it. You got the girl and you broke her."

"Yeah, just like we said we would," one of them said.

"Shut up," another one whispered. "He doesn't like to be interrupted."

"Oh, you know what, he's right," the leader laughed. "I don't." He took out a gun and shot the first captor which made the other ones flinch. "Now, that _he's_ out of the way…"

The remaining four captors tensed up, waiting for whatever was going to come next.

"Let's talk about what happened, shall we?" he continued. "I specifically ordered that she not get killed. And what do you do? You nearly kill her. If Batman hadn't come in, she would've died which would've ruined the whole thing! Do you realize what you've done? You've made me grateful that Batman saved the day!"

He shot the second captor who crumpled down next to the first.

"Geez…you guys are the worst."

The last three captors looked at one another, then back at the leader who continued to pace across the room.

"You see, I wanted Batman to come and all, and it's great that he did. But you were all _SO_ busy trying to kill the girl off that he easily knocked you all down like little bowling pins!"

He took out his knife and gutted the next captor, leaving just two still standing.

"I mean, if I really wanted her dead, I would've just done it myself because that would've been way more fun, of course. Maybe I should've just done this myself. Then I wouldn't have had five boneheads screw everything up. I mean, really, I was the brains of this whole operation." He pointed an accusing finger at the fourth captor. "Though _you_ seemed to think _you_ were in charge. I'm not an idiot! You think I didn't see what was going on?!"

He shot the fourth captor and aimed the gun and his knife at the fifth. He tensed up in a pointless defensive pose, but the shot never came. The leader went up to him, slowly lowering the gun.

"You, on the other hand, weren't so bad," he said as he tapped the side of the captor's face with his knife. "I may still have use for you."

The last captor, the one who had given Eliana food, looked at the man in front of him and saw his white makeup gleaming even in the dim light.


	9. Recovering

When Eliana was discharged from the hospital only a matter of days later, she requested that Bruce drive her home, her first act on her part to repair their broken friendship.

The car ride from the hospital to her home was incredibly awkward as they rode mostly in silence. She was frustrated that the tension was so high between them when they had been inseparable before. In fact, the two of them used to be able to talk for hours on end.

When Bruce pulled up to her apartment complex, he got out and opened the door for her. Still sore from all the injuries and the medication, Eliana took hold of Bruce's hand as he helped her out of the car and into her apartment.

"Can I get you anything?" Bruce asked once she was stationed on the couch in her living room.

"I just need some Advil from the bathroom, and I could really use some fast food. I want a burger with everything on it, a large box of fries with ketchup, and an Oreo sundae with extra Oreos, hot fudge, and whipped cream."

Bruce gave her a small smile. "I'm on it."

He grabbed her some Advil, and then he left to go grab her the food she had requested. Eliana turned on the TV, quickly choosing not to watch the news. Instead she watched a couple of sitcoms seeing as she deserved a laugh after the horrors of the past couple of weeks.

Bruce returned not long after he left carrying paper bags that contained a Deluxe Bacon Cheeseburger and a heap of waffle fries along with a large sundae with Oreos crammed into the cup.

"Bruce Wayne, you are a saint," Eliana remarked as he handed her the food.

"Need anything else?"

"I'm good for now."

"Well, if you want me to get anything, I'm just a phone call away."

Bruce turned to leave, but she called before he got out the door, "Bruce?" He turned back to face her. "Thank you. For everything."

Bruce smiled before he left her apartment. She had to admit that they were off to a pretty good start considering how long they had gone without speaking to each other.

As the hours ticked by, Eliana's thoughts kept wandering back to what had happened to her. And more importantly, who had showed up just as things were getting really, really bad.

She wasn't exactly sure what had happened after she had passed out, but she did know that Batman had gotten her to the hospital. What she couldn't get over was that there was something familiar about the eyes she saw looking at her right before she blacked out. It was safe to say that Batman was someone she knew. And not just knew, but someone she was close with.

Tony from the garage? No, he had been working with her on at least one occasion where they had heard about a Batman sighting.

No one from the restaurant. Batman worked at nights which were the same hours the restaurant operated.

Bruce? No way. He had spent the last couple of years only caring about himself and his precious models that he dated. There was no way that someone like him could care about all of the citizens of Gotham.

So who could it be?

She still remembered the first time she ever heard about Batman.

* * *

 _Falcone was responsible for crime left and right. After all, the people of Gotham weren't stupid, and Falcone didn't exactly hide his work. The problem was that he was really good at hiding the evidence that linked the crimes back to him. Everyone knew he was responsible, but no one could do anything about it._

 _That all changed on what was supposed to be just another ordinary crime-ridden Gotham night._

 _Eliana had just returned from a late night at the restaurant, successfully having managed to make it home without any prowlers. She turned on the news as she went around the kitchen heating up leftovers._

 _However, her food was quickly forgotten when she heard what the current newscast was about. A vigilante. Dressed like a giant bat, no less._

 _The camera showed footage of Falcone tied to a floodlight on the roof of the MCU building…captured at the scene where a drug deal had been taking place. Finally, after years and years of flooding the streets with crime, Falcone had been captured._

 _Eliana was rather curious about this supposed 'giant bat' who had managed to catch Falcone in the act. She was all for getting the crime lords off the streets, but just how far was this vigilante going to go? Would he just get the bad guys or would he go after the good guys too? She had her reservations about the whole thing._

 _At work, however, almost all the girls were squealing and talking about the mysterious Batman._

 _"_ _Who do you think it is?" Jess asked the other girls as she prepared a couple of her orders._

 _"_ _It could be any guy in Gotham!" one of the girls responded. "It could be some homeless guy, or it could be Bruce Wayne!"_

 _Eliana scoffed. "Bruce Wayne doesn't care enough about the city to do anything for it. There's no way he's Batman."_

 _"_ _It's possible," Jess said._

 _"_ _Not a chance."_

 _Jess looked over at a group of people from Wayne Enterprises who had reserved a table for a business dinner. To Eliana's displeasure, Bruce was sitting with them. "Looks like we're not the only ones talking about this guy," Jess remarked._

 _As Eliana served the tables around her, she listened in on the conversation, hearing them all debating about whether Batman was a good or bad guy._

 _"_ _What's your opinion, El?" Jess asked between tables. "Do you think he's good or bad?"_

 _"_ _Well, he's great for getting Falcone off the streets for now. But what's to stop him from going after some of the good people? We don't know where his jurisdiction ends or what his morals are."_

 _"_ _That's an interesting point," a smooth voice said behind her._

 _Eliana turned around, and when she realized that it was Bruce behind her, she briskly walked back towards the kitchen muttering, "Eavesdrop much?"_

 _Jess smiled awkwardly at the famous man. "Sorry about her. She's…got a lot on her mind at the moment."_

 _Bruce let out a small laugh. "We're eavesdropping? I know she's been listening to all of us over there."_

 _Eliana's face reddened a bit as she listened to their conversation, knowing he was right. She was eavesdropping right now._

 _"_ _Can I get you anything, Mr. Wayne?" Jess asked._

 _"_ _I just wanted some more wine. And tell El to be careful. She has to be nice to all the customers. Or else she may find herself out of a job."_

 _Bruce left and returned to his table._

 _Eliana's mouth hung open. Did he just threaten her? Jess retrieved the wine for his table and smiled warmly as she brought it over to them_

 _"_ _Jess," Eliana said quietly to her friend once she was in the kitchen. "What do you think would happen if I went over there and wrung Bruce Wayne's neck?"_

 _"_ _You'd get fired for sure. But if you wait until he's alone, you can stab him with an icicle and then the murder weapon will melt away."_

 _"_ _This is why you're in my life."_

* * *

Eliana called her bosses and explained to them what exactly had happened to her. She told them it would take a couple more weeks for her injuries to fully heal.

Both of them agreed to give her time off at home with full pay. In fact, in the exact words of her boss at the garage, "Eliana, you were freaking kidnapped. Rest up, and that's an order."

As Eliana forced herself off the sofa, she attempted to get some sleep. But she just ended up tossing and turning for at least an hour, unable to stop thinking about the men who had taken her. As far as she knew, they were still out there, not to mention there was the guy who was running the whole thing, whoever he was.

Frustrated, Eliana got back up, moving slowly because of her injuries, and picked up the phone, dialing a number she hadn't dialed in years.

"Wayne Manor," a tired voice said on the other end.

"Alfred?"

"Yes, who is calling?"

"I'm sorry to wake you. But could I speak to Bruce? It's Eliana Forbes."

"Of course, Miss Forbes. And may I say, I'm quite glad to hear of your safe return."

Eliana heard shuffling and muffled voices on the other end. Finally, Bruce answered the phone.

"Is everything okay?" he asked quickly.

She noticed that he didn't sound tired at all, or even like he had just been sleeping. Maybe he was having trouble sleeping too.

"Everything's fine, calm down. Look, I know it's late, but…I can't sleep and I don't really want to be alone right now. Could you please just…come over for a little while?"

"Of course. I'll be right over."

Within just a few minutes, there was a knock on her door. She slowly and painfully got up to open it for him.

"Hey," she said with an apologetic smile.

"I brought a movie," he told her.

She smiled at him as she saw that he had brought _The Karate Kid_ , a movie he, Eliana, and Rachel always watched together growing up.

"Now sit down. You shouldn't be standing."

Bruce guided her to the couch and put the movie into her player. Then the two of them sat on the couch and watched as it started up. It was just like the old times Eliana had been longing for ever since Bruce returned.

Eliana started to feel pretty tired about halfway through the film. After all, she hadn't gotten much sleep lately and she was exhausted.

Around the time Daniel was dressing in the locker room for the final competition, Bruce looked over to find Eliana conked out. He turned the TV off and gently laid her down on the couch before draping a blanket over her.

He realized just how beautiful she had really become since he had left Gotham. He now regretted ever pulling away from her. Sure it had all been to keep her safe, but in a place like Gotham, 'safe' was a loose term to begin with. He should've found her as soon as he got back and told her what was going on and where he had been. Or at least told her everything after he told Rachel.

Now…when could he possibly tell her that he was actually Batman?


	10. Parties

A knock on the door forced Eliana off the couch. She found herself secretly hoping it was Bruce, but it ended up being Jess.

"Holy freaking crap, El! What happened to you?" she said as she quickly stepped inside.

"To be honest, I still don't really know. I mean, I was kidnapped by five men, but the thing is they were all working for someone else. But no one would tell me who it was or why he wanted me. It's so frustrating."

"Forget that! Are you okay? Those sickos tortured you!"

"I'm fine, Jess. I'm just recovering."

Jess held up both of Eliana's hands, revealing the two splints covering her four broken fingers. "This is 'fine'?"

"It could've been worse. A lot worse."

"I suppose. If it was me, I'd be handling all of this a lot worse than you are."

"It's still kind of freaky to know they haven't been caught yet. But…on the bright side, Bruce and I are talking again. After all, getting tortured can kind of make you start reevaluating things."

"Well, at least one good thing is happening throughout this nightmare."

"He's been by almost every day to get me what I need. He usually only stays for a few minutes, but it's a start."

"I'll take it. I couldn't stand to see you guys so icy towards each other. It dropped twenty degrees when you guys just looked at one another."

"Very funny, Jess."

"I know."

* * *

Eliana checked her mailbox and found a letter from Bruce. Her brow furrowed. What was he sending her that he couldn't just tell her in person?

When she opened the letter, she found a typed up invitation to his birthday party. There was a note on the back that read, "I really hope you can make it, El. It'll be just like old times."

She scoffed a little bit. She hadn't been to one of his birthday parties since he was 22. It was quite safe to say that this party would not be like when they were in college. Especially since Rachel wasn't around to celebrate this time.

* * *

 _"_ _Okay, now that your obligatory fancy party is over, let's have some actual fun," Rachel smiled._

 _"_ _I'll get the real cake!" Eliana said._

 _"_ _And I'll get the movie started!"_

 _Eliana went to the kitchen and grabbed the chocolate ice cream cake out of the freezer and some plates and forks. Then she went to the screening room where Rachel had started up_ Jurassic Park _. They had made it a tradition that each year on Bruce's party, he had his usual big party where the people of Gotham were invited, and then the three friends would kick back in the screening room and watch a movie. Previous selections included_ Back to the Future _,_ The Karate Kid _(one they had watched on more than one occasion), and_ Terminator _._

 _"_ _Okay, Bruce," Eliana smiled as she lit the 22_ _nd_ _candle on the cake. "Now you can have the party you really want. Make a wish. A real one."_

 _Bruce smiled and looked at 'Happy Birthday, Bruce' written on the cake in perfect cursive icing. "Right now, I have everything I need."_

 _The two girls smiled at him. Bruce took a deep breath and blew out the candles on his cake as the girls clapped and cheered._

 _"_ _Alright, let's get the movie started!" Rachel said._

 _Eliana cut up three slices of the cake and handed it to them as the movie opened with some of the workers getting eaten by a Velociraptor. All of three of them made stupid yet hilarious commentary all throughout the movie as they laughed until their stomachs hurt._

 _It was perfect._

* * *

Eliana remembered reading in the news that at his big 30th birthday party, he had called everyone 'two-faced phonies' and 'sycophantic suck-ups' and then burned down his mansion in a drunken fit. Everyone must've gotten over the whole incident because every party he had held after that had hundreds of people in attendance. Must've been one of those rich people things.

The party wasn't for a couple weeks. She would be fully healed by then. She wasn't too keen on the idea of attending a party where she probably wouldn't know anyone, and most people would be judging her because of her background and the fact that she didn't have as much money as they did.

But if she wanted to fix her friendship with Bruce, this was a good way to do that. She went to her calendar and wrote the party down on the specified date.

She would need to go shopping soon. There was definitely not anything in her closet good enough for a Bruce Wayne party.

As soon as she went to the doctor and got her splints taken off, she went out and bought a spaghetti-strap royal blue dress that reached to her knees while the back sank down a bit further. It wasn't flashy, but it would be enough to pass off as one of the elite for a few hours.

The next day, Eliana was finally able to return to work.

"I don't believe my eyes!" Tony said as she stepped inside the garage.

"Hey, Tony," she smiled. "It's good to be back."

"It's good to have you back. Do you know how long we've had Bruce Wayne's car? Way too long. It's a miracle the man hasn't shut this place down."

"Why didn't anyone fix it?"

"Boss closed the place until we knew you were safe. None of us were doing our jobs right because we were so concerned about you."

"Wow, really? Well, as nice as that is, I've been back for weeks. Someone could've fixed it then."

"Well, to be honest, we can't figure out what you were doing to fix it because we don't know the exact problem."

"This place would fall apart in a matter of days without me here. You all realize that, right?"

"All too well. That's why you aren't ever allowed to leave again."

"I don't plan on it. But hey, it's not every day some freak out there has it in for you."

"Yeah, anyone ever catch those guys?"

"They're not who you should worry about. You should worry about the guy who was planning the whole thing. I just wish I knew who he was. And why he was so interested in me."

"I don't know, girl. All I know is that I'm really glad you're back safe and healthy."

"Thanks, Tony. Now, let me get this car finished so we can get it out of the garage. It would be unwise to keep someone as rich and powerful as Bruce Wayne waiting any longer."

* * *

Eliana was just finishing up fixing the first, and most likely the last, Lamborghini they ever got in the garage when she heard those all-too-familiar footsteps. She smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Welcome back," she said sarcastically.

"I figured this thing has been in here long enough."

"Why didn't you ask for it sooner? Everyone's freaking out that you're going to shut us down because it took so long to get the car fixed."

"I think under the circumstances, I can forgive them. Come on, I'm not completely heartless."

"Well, let me just go grab some paperwork, and you'll be all ready to finally get this out of our garage."

Eliana left the garage and went inside the office. After grabbing the necessary papers, she returned to find Bruce staring at a framed picture she kept at her workspace. It was a picture of her, Bruce, and Rachel back when they were in high school before they all separated and went to college.

"I keep that around to remember the good times," Eliana said, coming up behind him. "Before…everything went wrong. I like thinking about the times when you, me, and Rachel would all spend time together every day doing homework. Or should I say procrastinating on homework."

Bruce smiled a little. To be honest, he missed those times too. Life had been so much simpler back then. Before he lived a double life and found himself lying to everyone.

"To be honest, I've…really missed you, Bruce."

Bruce set the picture back down and turned to face her. "I've missed you too. More than you can imagine."

Eliana found her breath catching in her throat and all of a sudden, she couldn't seem to get enough oxygen into her lungs. For the first time in a while, she was really able to see just how attractive Bruce had become over the last few years. She had seen him several times since his return, but she had always been blinded by her anger against him. Now that she was finally pushing that anger aside, it was like she was seeing him with brand new eyes.

Had this moment continued for just a few seconds longer, the two of them surely would've kissed. Unfortunately, Tony chose that time to come into the garage to grab something for a client.

Eliana nervously cleared her throat, the moment between them shattered. "Uh, sign here and then you'll be good to go."

Bruce signed the paper before grabbing his keys. "Hey, El, will you be able to make it to my party?"

"I'll be there."

Bruce took off in his Lamborghini and Eliana blew a puff of air out through her cheeks. What on earth had just happened?


	11. Bruce's Party

The day of Bruce's party came much too fast for Eliana's liking. Before she knew it, it was time for her to wear her blue dress and go to an event where she didn't fit in.

Jess came over to help her with her hair so it was worthy of the dress.

"I cannot believe you're about to go to Bruce Wayne's birthday party," Jess remarked as she curled Eliana's hair into loose ringlets.

"I've been to his birthday parties before. They're usually really, really boring."

"Well, even still, it's nice that he invited you."

"And I'll have to spend the night with a bunch of rich snobs."

"Has anyone ever told you you are extremely pessimistic? Can't you look on the bright side of anything?"

"Sorry," Eliana laughed. "At least at his other parties, Rachel and I could suffer through it together. We always used to get together after the party was over and watch a movie."

"You're so lucky to have him as a friend."

"It was kinda cool to be best friends with a 'celebrity' growing up. Now…it's just not the same. _He's_ not the same. I don't know what it is, but there's something off about him. Like there's something huge he's not telling me, you know?"

"Maybe he's in love with you," Jess laughed.

"Get real, Jess. Bruce was always in love with Rachel. It's going to take time for that wound to heal."

"It's been a while since her death though. And besides, she was with that Dent guy. I know it's hard, but he's going to have to move on."

"Yeah…we both do."

Jess finished up, leaving Eliana's hair in loose ringlets with half of it pinned to the back of her head.

Eliana then rode the familiar way to Wayne Manor. As she pulled up, memories came flooding back to her all at once. She hadn't been within five miles of Wayne Manor since a few months before Bruce's disappearance. That was nearly eleven years ago.

She stepped inside and looked around her. The house was set up beautifully for the occasion. Despite the fact that she had been here countless times, she had never felt so much like she was in a foreign place.

Eliana mingled with a few of the guests before quickly realizing that she couldn't relate to any of them. They were nearly all rich with incredible jobs and huge houses. Everyone was comparing their house to Bruce's, and bragging about how much they had.

Feeling a bit suffocated, Eliana headed out to the balcony that overlooked the garden.

"Nice to see you made it," Bruce said, coming up behind her.

"Hey," she said with a light smile. "I just needed some air."

"You too, huh?"

"We never did really enjoy these parties, did we?"

"That definitely hasn't changed." There was a pause before he continued, "Look, I know this isn't quite the same as usual, but…I'm really glad you made it."

"Me too. It's a good way to establish our friendship again."

"Exactly."

There was a bit more awkward silence between them as both tried to think of what to say next.

"El, it's been a tough few months. And I'm sorry I wasn't there as much as I should've been."

"You've already apologized. It's in the past. For what it's worth, you've been amazing these past few weeks since I was in the hospital."

"I just…wish things had been different…between us. Growing up we were always so close. I never wanted to lose that. I never wanted to lose you."

Eliana smiled a bit and looked down at her hands placed on the balcony wall. "I've always been in love with you, Bruce," she said without looking at him.

Bruce looked at her, sure he had heard her wrong. "What? Why…why didn't you ever say anything before?"

She turned to look up at him. "I…couldn't compare to your feelings for Rachel. Bruce, it didn't take much to see that you were head-over-heels in love with her. I knew that you couldn't feel for me what I felt for you."

Suddenly, it all became clear why Eliana had wanted to spend time with him so much when they were growing up. He had been too blinded by his feelings for Rachel to see that there was someone else who craved his affections just as much as he craved Rachel's.

"Eliana…look. Yes, I did love Rachel. But she didn't love me back. She fell in love with Harvey Dent. And after her death, I didn't think I'd ever be able to get over her, but when I saw you…things were different. In these past few weeks, I have felt things for you that I never felt for her."

"Really?"

Bruce nodded. "It's taken me much too long to see it, but…I love you, Eliana."

The two of them drew closer to each other and before Eliana could completely process what was happening, she was kissing Bruce Wayne.

Her heartbeat quickened at the sign of affection she had longed for ever since she could remember. She felt all thoughts leave her mind as she kissed him, each kiss deeper than the last. His lips were warm against hers, and they seemed to move in perfect syncopation together as if their lips were meant for nothing else except the others'.

Much, much too soon for her, he pulled away. She craved his touch again, as if it was a drug and the only way she could be satisfied was with more of it.

"You should, um, return to your guests," she said awkwardly.

"Yeah…I'll do that."

As Bruce retreated from the balcony, Eliana laughed to herself and turned back to face the garden.

She could not believe what had just happened.

The party went on for a couple more hours, and try as she might, Eliana could not get the smile off her face. She was absolutely glowing. No one asked why, and she didn't really care as they all continued to show off their riches. She had what she wanted most and that was all that mattered to her.

Eliana stayed until all the guests were gone. She was just about to leave when she felt a hand on hers.

"Spare a dance for the guest of honor?"

Eliana turned to Bruce and smiled. "But there's no music."

"Since when did you care about that?"

Bruce led her to the center of the ballroom and guided her hand to his shoulder before taking her other hand in his and placing his hand on her waist. Slowly, they began to dance around the ballroom.

Music began playing, and Eliana quietly laughed as she saw the small orchestra hired for Bruce's party had once again taken out their instruments to play a song for the couple.

Bruce led her around the dance floor in a little waltz, never once breaking eye contact with her. It was a magical moment that reminded Eliana of her dance with him at their prom. She never realized just how much she loved him until this night. And if it hadn't been for her stubbornness, she probably could've gotten this night a lot sooner.

Bruce began thinking of what his life would've been like had he not left for seven years. He didn't regret the decision, and if he had to go back, he would do the same thing. But he couldn't help but wonder what might've happened had he stayed with Rachel and Eliana. Perhaps they would've gotten a thousand more moments just like this one.

Regardless of what could've been, he soaked in what was happening at the current time, enjoying every priceless second of it.

Eventually, the song had to come to an end and it was time for Eliana to return home. Bruce thanked the orchestra and walked Eliana to the main doors. She had called a cab earlier and it was currently waiting for her outside.

"I had…an amazing time tonight, Bruce," Eliana said. "It wasn't exactly like old times, but…it was certainly just as great. If not better."

"I feel the same way. I'm glad you made it."

"Me too."

Bruce kissed her deeply until she was forced to pull away from him and head towards the cab. She floated on air all the way down the steps and to the car. As she sat in the back, she thought nothing could possibly bring her down. She was quickly proven wrong.

"Saw you kissing Bruce Wayne, you little lucky devil," the driver said.

There was something awfully familiar about his voice…

"Yeah," Eliana said cautiously. "Our relationship goes way back."

"Oh, that just makes everything so, so much better! This is better than anything I ever hoped for!"

"What are talking about?"

The driver turned around and Eliana felt her stomach drop down to her feet. Her driver was none other than the Joker!


	12. Fight With the Joker

"It was you who ordered those guys to torture me," she put together. "I can't believe I didn't think of that before."

"Oh, don't beat yourself up, sweetheart. It's a common error."

"Where are you taking me?"

"Somewhere I can finish what I started. Oh, and uh, sorry for the roughness before from those guys. You don't have to worry about those idiots anymore."

Eliana closed her eyes and sighed. After such a perfect, perfect night, it had to end in flames.

The Joker drove her to an unfamiliar building in the middle of the Narrows where it wouldn't be unusual for a major crime to occur. Eliana considered jumping out of the cab, but ended up finding that idea pointless. The Joker would just find her again somewhere, most likely her home, and do even worse than whatever he had in mind.

The Joker opened her door and forced her out of the cab. She held her back erect and walked forward, making a point not to show fear. People like the Joker lived for the fear of others, feasting on it every chance they got. She refused to give him that satisfaction.

When he forced her inside a room, she was shocked to find one of her captors: Scruff-Guy!

"You," she said quietly.

"Oh, so ya do remember him?" the Joker laughed. "He's the only one who actually did what I wanted. So I decided to keep him around a little longer."

"You really are a freak," Eliana said.

"Brave one, aren't ya?"

"What's the master plan anyway? I think I have a right to know after everything I've been put through."

The Joker laughed as he pushed her onto a chair. "It's a game, of course."

Eliana rolled her eyes at the mention of a game. "You know, there's this thing called the dictionary, and in there I'm sure you will find the actual definition of a game. Because I'm pretty sure this isn't it."

"Well, that all depends on your definition of 'fun'. See, it's the thing we do. I cause havoc and panic and maybe take some lives in the process. And Batman comes in and saves the day. There are no real winners. It's just for the fun of it all."

"You have a seriously demented mind."

"Thank you."

"So you kidnapped and tortured me just to get to Batman? What was the point of all that? You're more of a 'hundreds of people at once' kind of guy."

"Not always. Or don't you remember what I did to Mr. Dent and his lovely little bunny?"

Eliana glared up at the psycho. "Don't you dare talk about Rachel like that."

"Oh, I think I struck a nerve! That's right, you and the girl and the playboy all used to be best friends, right?"

"Right. And I don't appreciate you talking about them as if they're nothing more than a piece of dirt."

Eliana stood up to confront him, but he just aimed his knife at her. "Ah, ta ta ta ta, let's not get too worked up now. Or else we'll miss the moment when Batman comes flying in. And believe me, you don't wanna miss that."

Although Eliana wanted nothing more than to pound his face in, she forced herself to sit back down. "Why me?"

"Why not you?"

"What?"

"Consider it an honor to be chosen by yours truly to be the subject in our little game."

"An honor? Oh, really? Well, forgive me for not being more appreciative."

"You're forgiven."

"I would so love to hurt you right now."

"I'm sure you're not the only one. I gotta give you credit. You are certainly tougher than I anticipated. Most people, especially the ladies, just start cowering in fear as soon as they see me. Not you. But that's okay. I kinda like the change."

"I'm so glad. Because my main goal in life is to please the Joker."

Eliana stiffened as she felt something placed in her hand when the Joker wasn't looking. She looked up at Scruff-Guy as she tightened her hand around the object. It was a gun. She discreetly looked up at him and to her utter surprise, she saw nothing but compassion written on his face.

Eliana was smart enough to know that she couldn't just shoot the Joker and make her escape. On foot, she could never get far especially since finding a cab in the Narrows was near impossible. And she was certain that a bullet wound wouldn't stop someone like him.

She would have to wait for the right time.

The right time ended up being hours away. She sat in the chair, staring at her hands, bored out of her mind.

"Exactly how long do you plan on waiting?" she asked. "I'm tired, and I would very much like to go home and get some sleep. I've had…a really weird day."

The Joker quietly chuckled. "If I'm correct, it shouldn't be too much longer before Batman comes bursting in."

"Quicker than you think," a raspy voice said.

The Joker turned around only to get punched square in the jaw by Batman's hard fist. The Joker just started laughing maniacally in a way that sent a chill down Eliana's spine. The two men really went at it, and the Joker seemed to be having the time of his life.

He grabbed a crowbar and started swinging at the Batman in an attempt to do some kind of damage. Finally, the metal crashed into his cowl with a loud crack.

That was enough for Eliana, and she went after the Joker, determined to hurt him in some way for everything he had done to her. Try as she might to get the upper hand, the Joker smacked her across her face, sending her sprawling to the ground. She looked at her arm and realized that his knife had left a small slice that was slowly beginning to trickle blood.

As Batman fell to his knees in a disoriented state, his cowl broke from the impact of the crowbar and fell to the ground in pieces.

Eliana looked up and found to her shock that she was looking right at the face of Bruce Wayne! A thousand thoughts swarmed into her mind all at once to the point where she couldn't process them all even if she tried.

The Joker began laughing again. "So this is it. We'll get to see the real Batman after all this time."

Bruce stood up slowly, seeing no point in trying to hide his face. There was nothing he could do. He began to turn around so the Joker would finally know who it was behind the mask.

But before he got the chance, Eliana grabbed the gun she had dropped in her struggle with the Joker and shot the deranged psycho in the shoulder. It wouldn't kill him, but it would certainly do some damage. He fell to the ground from the impact and didn't get up.

Bruce snapped his head back over to Eliana who sat on the ground panting heavily. She stood up and looked Bruce straight in the eyes. How had she not seen it before?

The sound of sirens and police chatter forced Eliana out of her daze. She looked out of the room they were in and saw multiple people coming up the stairs.

"Go," she ordered to Bruce. "Get out of here. Now."

Bruce took off out the window. Eliana looked over at Scruff-Guy.

"I'm so sorry, miss," he apologized. "I never meant to get caught up in all this. But once you're involved with the Joker, he doesn't let you go easily."

"You saved me. Thank you."

Commissioner Gordon came into the room and looked at the scene before him.

"Eliana!" he exclaimed coming over to her and placing his hands on her head. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she answered. "I'm okay."

While the police took her last surviving captor into custody and started giving the Joker medical attention for the gunshot wound, Eliana looked off in the direction Bruce had gone flying.

Everything she once knew had been a complete lie.


	13. Bruce and Eliana

Eliana sat in her apartment contemplating everything that had happened in the past few hours. She couldn't believe that her best friend, the man she was in love with, was the vigilante that had captured Falcone and stopped crime on the streets on a nightly basis.

It certainly made sense now why he had pulled away from her when he returned. Though she was a bit insulted that he had kept in contact with Rachel and not her.

She groaned as she thought back over all the things she had said about him, indirectly and directly. She had said that he didn't care about Gotham or anyone except himself, when the whole time, he was putting himself in harm's way nearly every night to keep the city safe.

Overwhelmed with emotions from her torturous experiences at the Joker's hand and thoughts about her horrible conversations with Bruce up until then, she went to the nearest bar to ease her mind.

"Give me something strong," she said to the bartender as she put her hand on her forehead.

"Sure thing," he answered. After a couple minutes, he handed her a tall glass of some kind of brown fluid.

She took a sip, letting the liquid burn her throat as it made its way down. "What in the world is that?" she coughed.

"Believe me, you don't want to know."

"Fair enough."

She finished off the drink, and ended up having four more. Needless to say that by that point, Eliana was very, very drunk.

"Another!" she demanded as she banged her hand on the bar.

"I think you've had enough," the bartender said to her.

"No, I want another one."

"I don't think so."

"Will…will you give me one if I tell you who the Batman is?" she asked, slurring her words heavily. She leaned onto the bar close to the man behind it. "It's Bruce Wayne." She began laughing really loud and for a really long time.

"Lady, you're wasted."

"No, really!" she laughed. "Bruce Wayne is Batman. And my daddy is the Joker!"

"Really? What's your daddy's name?"

"I don't know. What's _your_ daddy's name?"

"How many fingers am I holding up?" the bartender asked as he held up three fingers.

Eliana started laughing again. "Fifty-five!"

"Is there someone I can call for you?"

"Call Batman. He can save the day! Or the night! Or whatever he saves!"

"Eliana," a smooth familiar voice said. Bruce walked up to the bar behind Eliana. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Hey, you!" she laughed as she hit him on the chest. She turned to the bartender. "Can't you see the resemblance? It's all there!"

"She says you're the Batman and her pop's the Joker," the bartender told Bruce.

Bruce laughed. "Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not Batman and I've met her father. He's definitely not the Joker. I'm sorry if she's caused you any trouble. I'll take her home."

"It's not a problem, Mr. Wayne. I'm just glad she's getting home safe."

"Come on, Eliana. Let's go."

"But I never got my drink!"

"I think you got plenty. Let's go."

Bruce helped Eliana off the barstool, and she immediately fell over woozily. She laughed loudly as Bruce caught her before she hit the ground.

"Look at you, saving little old me. My hero!"

Bruce guided a stumbling Eliana back to his car. He helped her into the passenger seat as she continued to giggle like an idiot. He slowly rode back to the Manor, trying not to upset her stomach in order to hold off the inevitable.

When he pulled into the garage, he slowly helped her out of the car and guided her to the couch.

"Why didn't you take me home?" she asked as if she were a child. For a moment, he couldn't help but smile as he remembered little five-year-old Eliana asking if she could the princess of his castle.

"You're completely drunk. At least here, I can take care of you."

"Just like Bruce Wayne to take care of his best friend!"

"Just…wait here. I'll be right back."

Bruce went to his room and grabbed one of his t-shirts and some sweatpants. They'd be big on her, but at the moment, she probably wouldn't care.

When he returned to the couch, Eliana had gone extremely pale. "Bruce…I don't feel so good."

Bruce quickly grabbed a trash can and placed it near her. Then he held back her hair as she began vomiting from all the alcohol in her stomach.

When she finished, she wiped her mouth with a disgusted look on her face. "That was gross," she said.

"Tell me about it." He handed her the pants and shirt. "Here are some more comfortable clothes for you to change into. Don't worry, I'll turn around."

It took a really long time but eventually, Eliana was able to get herself into Bruce's shirt and sweatpants.

He stayed by her side for hours on end as her drunkenness wore off. Finally, well into the morning, Eliana dozed off on the couch. After waiting a little while longer to make sure she was okay, Bruce hefted her up into his arms as her head rested on his shoulder. Then he carried her upstairs and gently laid her down on the bed in the guest room.

After he was sure she was lying comfortably in the bed, he headed out to get some much needed sleep himself.

* * *

Eliana's eyes opened and she was greeted with a headache that made her want to hurl, but judging from the taste in her mouth, that had already happened.

She groaned and rubbed her temples as she sat up. She looked down and noticed that she was wearing clothes that weren't her own. As she realized that they were in fact Bruce's, she began blushing heavily.

Slowly getting out of bed, she walked downstairs, squinting her eyes from all the bright lights.

"Good morning," Bruce said, coming into the room with a glass of water that he had tossed some Advil into.

Eliana took the glass and began sipping it as she sat down on the couch. "So, about this…" she began gesturing to her new outfit.

"Don't worry, you got dressed all by yourself, El. And threw up twice while doing so."

Eliana groaned again. "For the record, that was the first time I've ever gotten that drunk. And it's definitely going to be the last."

"Do you remember anything you said or did?"

"No, and to be honest, I don't want to know."

"Yes, you do. You sat up giggling like a little girl for hours, and you kept telling me you knew who Batman was, but told me not to tell Bruce."

"Ugh, please stop."

"Oh, there's more. You also told me a lot of stories about…what was it? Times when you messed up delivering food at the restaurant. I recall one instance where you tripped and all the food fell onto the customers. It was the mayor, wasn't it?"

Eliana fell back onto the sofa in humiliation, which made her head hurt even more.

"Eliana," Bruce started as he sat on the couch with her. "That wasn't like you. Why did you go out and do that to yourself?"

"To be honest, I can't believe it took me this long."

"What are you talking about?"

"Bruce, it's been a rough few years. Ever since you disappeared for seven years, everything changed. That day when Alfred called me telling me that you never came home was the worst day of my life, and that's coming from someone who got tortured. After that day, nothing was the same. I lost both of my best friends because after that, Rachel and I lost touch. Every time we tried to spend time together, we both just got upset because you weren't with us. And then when you came back, I thought that maybe things would go back to normal at least a little. But instead, you just pushed me away."

"Listen, Eliana. I think it's time for you to hear what happened. I left Gotham to understand how criminals act and think. That way, I could understand what it would take to stop them. I spent several years traveling around with no money, no identity, nothing. All I had was the memories of you and me and Rachel together. After I got thrown in prison, I was approached by Henri Ducard, the head of the League of Shadows. He taught me how to fight and apprehend criminals. But when he told me that he planned on invading Gotham and killing everyone in it, I burned the place and fled. That's when I came back here and began planning on becoming Batman. Believe me, Eliana, I wanted to reach out to you. But the only way I could make people think I wasn't Batman was by acting like a typical rich kid playboy. That's why I acted the way I did when I first saw you at the restaurant. I didn't want to, but I was in public, and I had to keep up my image. And every time I tried to contact you, I was held up by either Wayne Enterprises or the city needing Batman."

"But you found time to get in contact with Rachel."

"Only because she nearly got herself killed by going to the Narrows and getting sprayed with fear gas. If I hadn't gone after her, she would've died."

"I get that. You still made time for her."

"She came to me."

"Did she know about you? I mean, Batman?"

Bruce paused before shamefully nodding. "Yes, she did."

"For how long?"

"Ever since I saved her in the Narrows."

"So she knew about you for nearly a year?"

"Let's not forget that every time I tried to talk to you after our first meeting, you rejected me and didn't give me the time of day."

"Because you acted like a complete jerk to me! Why didn't you just tell me? Then I wouldn't have been so awful to you."

"I was going to. I swear to you that I was. But after Rachel died at the hands of the Joker, it destroyed me, and I just couldn't do it. I couldn't put you in harm's way like that."

"I understand. But she knew about you long before she died. Why didn't you tell me then?"

"Because I saw the way Rachel looked at me every day after she found out about Batman. She never saw me the same way again. I didn't want to see you look at me that way either. I couldn't lose you like I lost her. Turns out that I lost you anyway, and I'm so sorry for that. I was just trying to keep you safe."

"You had good intentions. I won't deny that. I just wish you had reached out to me, and explained to me what was going on with you. I needed you."

"I needed you too. That's why I tried to make amends with you after I dropped my car off at the garage. Speaking to you normally for the first time since I got back made me realize how much I missed you."

"I missed you too."

She moved over to him and kissed him gently. She let her lips graze over his as she slowly moved into his lap so she could deepen the kiss with him. She felt his hands sink into her waist, passionately returning her kiss.

"I still want to be with you," she said to him.

"Really?"

"Yes. I am angry with you for not telling me what happened to you, but these past few days have reminded me why I fell in love with you in the first place. I just got you back, and I can't lose you again now. If I let what happened in the past control my thoughts and feelings, I'll never truly be happy. I love you, and you being Batman doesn't change that. Nothing can change my feelings for you."

"But being with me only puts you at risk of getting hurt. Look what happened to Rachel and Harvey. And you."

"Bruce, the Joker took me just because he could. It didn't have anything to do with the fact that I'm close to you. That was just a perk to him. I'm a tough girl, okay? I can handle a lot. You have no idea what I've been through since you left. I'm not the same girl either. I may not be a vigilante, but I'm not helpless. And everything I'll ever go through is worth it if I get to be with you. Because you mean the world to me. I could never live without you."

"I love you, El."

Eliana kissed him again, feeling his lips press onto hers passionately. She never realized how much she had longed for his touch until he willingly gave it to her. And now she never wanted it to stop.

As long as they had each other, Eliana knew that everything was going to be okay.


End file.
